Geo-Strategic Trend - 136. page

Radio Free Asia  (RFA) reported that on October 30, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), an Australian think tank, published a report titled, “Picking flowers, making honey.” The report criticized China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) for sponsoring Chinese students or scholars to study in the west so they would be able to steal military technology. The report stated that, since 2007, the PLA has sponsored more than 2,500 military scientists and engineers to study abroad and has developed relationships with researchers and institutions across the globe including in such countries as the U.S., the U.K., and Australia. These people often pose as students or scholars in a collaboration project to collect military technology. They hide their military background, and it is difficult for Western countries to understand or learn about their relationship with the Chinese military. These people usually do not directly contact the military personnel in the host country. The research cooperation projects they participate in are usually concentrated in the fields of emerging technology or military and civil science, such as quantum physics, signal processing, cryptography, navigation technology, artificial intelligence, etc. They secretly collect relevant technology. Meanwhile in the past five years, the number of research reports that Chinese military researchers and British and American scientists have published has been more than the number of research reports that  scholars from any other country have published. The report also pointed out that, since the Western academic environment is open, it is very difficult to prevent the CCP military personnel from stealing key technologies at the academic level. When many scholars of the Chinese military participate in scientific and technological research projects in Western countries, they often bring research funding as well.

A former Chinese Army Naval Intelligence Officer told RFA that major universities in mainland China have national defense students. These students have to sign confidential contracts with the military after they enter the university. Many scientific and technical personnel in the military are national defense graduates.

China’s official media Huanqiu condemned the report making the accusation that the report is “the western forces’ going to new heights to smear China’s image.” The report quoted one Chinese diplomatic scholar who claimed that Australia has followed in the footsteps of the U.S. in its China policy and actively cooperated with Trump’s statement that China’s development is based on stealing Western technology. This approach has not been good for Australia.

Source:
1. Radio Free Asia, October 31, 2018
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/report-10312018093328.html
2. Australian Strategic Policy Institute, October 30, 2018
https://www.aspi.org.au/report/picking-flowers-making-honey
3. Huanqiu, October 30, 2018
http://hqtime.huanqiu.com/article/a-XDIVXC5A79CF363246A988

Chilean Foreign Minister Roberto Ampuero said on November 2 that Chile will participate in China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative, which will deepen the economic and political cooperation between the two countries.

In the statement, Ampuero said that participation in China’s global infrastructure initiative will make Chile more attractive to Chinese investors; he hopes to make his country a “landing point for investments in Latin America.”

China is Chile’s top trading partner and the two countries are deepening ties. Last week, Chile and China signed a trade deal to streamline customs controls and widen access to the Chinese market for Chilean products.

Ever since Trump took office, China has continued to play important roles around the globe. For example, China has been promoting the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, so as to replace the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.

China also challenges the dominance of the U.S. in Latin America. In the coming decade, China will pour a total investment of $250 billion into this region. China is also the largest trading partner of many Latin American countries including Brazil and Argentina.

Source: Central News Agency, November 2, 2018
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/aopl/201811020051.aspx

According to Xinhua News Agency, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on October 29 that the first China International Import Expo will be held in Shanghai from November 5 to 10. At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, the following heads of state or heads of government will attend the Expo:

Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic,
Miguel Díaz-Canel, President of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers of Cuba,
Danilo Medina, President of the Dominican Republic,
Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya,
Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of Lithuania,
Juan Carlos Varela, President of Panama,
Salvador Sánchez Cerén, President El Salvador,
Alain Berset, President of the Swiss Confederation,
Henry Puna, Prime Minister of Cook Islands,
Andrej Plenković, Prime Minister of Croatia,
Mostafa Kamal Madbouly, Prime Minister of Egypt,
Viktor Orbán, Prime Minister of Hungary,
Mamuka Bakhtadze, Prime Minister of Georgia,
Thongloun Sisoulith, Prime Minister of Laos,
Joseph Muscat, Prime Minister of Malta,
Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan,
Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister of Russia, and
Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, Prime Minister of Vietnam.

Source: Xinhua News Agency, October 29, 2018
http://www.xinhuanet.com/world/2018-10/29/c_129981443.htm

Taiwan Central News Agency carried an article that Le Figaro, the French daily newspaper, had originally published. The article reported that, in recent years, Chinese intelligence agents have widely used professional social websites to explore secrets and to penetrate into the administrative departments, power circles, and large companies in France. Such actions have generated a major threat to national sovereignty for France and put French economic assets at risk.

In the exclusive report that Le Figaro published, it stated that the French Directorate-General for External Security and the Directorate-General for Internal Security have gathered enough evidence to conclude that Chinese intelligence agents have used fake identities and created accounts on business and social websites such as LinkedIn or the Viadeo Group to contact at least 4,000 managers in French government agencies or their employees or some strategic corporate partners. There are about 500 such accounts on LinkedIn. A total of 200,000 Chinese intelligence agents who the Ministry of State Security manages are involved in this project. The online profiles of these Chinese agents show that they often appear to be young, funny, talented, hold a degree from a top university in China, carry a fancy title and work for companies that have over one thousand followers on social media. These agents generally start with warm greetings and complements to their target and extend an invitation for them to come to China for business seminars. Once the agents gather enough evidence such as private photos and financial transaction records, they then use these as a bargaining chip to force the target to work for the Ministry of State Security.

Other than using the online social media to look for their targets, Le Figaro reported that these Chinese spies also find Chinese students or visiting scholars in France to steal or make copies of their research secrets.

Source: Central News Agency, October 23, 2018
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/aopl/201810230355.aspx

The United Nations imposed sanctions against North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and called on all member states to implement it strictly so as to exert “maximum pressure” on Pyongyang and push the economically distressed North Korea back to the negotiating table. However, there are signs that, since North Korea stopped missile and nuclear tests and Kim Jong-un promised to go nuclear-free at the US-DPRK summit in June this year, sanctions have begun to lose power. At the same time, Russia and China are also calling for relaxation of sanctions against North Korea.

Yoon Sang-hyun, a South Korean opposition party lawmaker, pointed out that “Kim Jong-un has been purchasing luxury goods from China and other places, including a seaplane, high-end musical instruments, high-end TVs, cars, brand name liquors, luxury watches and other gifts, not only for his own family, but also as gifts for the elite inside the government.”

Yoon added that with the expansion of the loopholes, Kim Jong-un will soon be able to achieve the purpose of weakening and offsetting sanctions gradually without giving up nuclear weapons. The opposition law maker said that last year, North Korea imported $640 million worth of luxury goods from China.

China does not publish detailed classified data on customs imports and exports. The number that Yoon quoted is based on a list of embargoed goods from the Korean government.

Yoon pointed out that, compared with the peak level of $800 million in imports in 2014, the scale of North Korean imports of luxury goods from China has shrunk, but compared with the $666 million from 2016, it was a decline of only 3.8 percent. In addition, luxury goods accounted for 17.8 percent of the total value of North Korea’s imports from China ($3.7 billion) last year. Among all imported luxury goods, high-end TVs and other electronic appliances accounted for more than half or about $340 million, followed by cars ($204 million) and liquor ($35 million).

According to figures that China’s General Administration of Customs released last month, China’s January through August trade with North Korea fell by 57.8 percent year-on-year to $1.51 billion.

The figures that Yoon quoted also show that, since Kim Jong-un came to power at the end of 2011, the amount of money that North Korea spent on imported luxury goods from China has increased to $4 billion.

Source: Deutsche Welle Chinese, October 23, 2018
https://p.dw.com/p/36xRW

On October 13 and 14, an “Academic Alliance” consisting of schools of political science and international relations in a number of countries along China’s “Belt and Road” initiative was formally established at Fudan University in Shanghai.

Deans of the schools of political science and international relations from 13 countries including China, Russia, India, South Korea, Pakistan, Iran, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Mongolia, Hungary, Poland, and Latvia met together to discuss the “Belt and Road” initiative and the development of a new international relationship, as well as possible international academic cooperation.

Su Changhe, executive dean of the School of International Relations and Public Affairs at Fudan University, said that emerging countries and developing countries are important forces in the development of new international relations, but these countries lack adequate understanding of each other. Using the means of international cooperation and education in international relations, schools of political science and international relations in these countries can play a leading role in conducting unofficial exchanges, helping reduce the deficit in mutual understandings, and fostering the basis for public opinion for common development.

The School of International Relations and Public Affairs at Fudan University initiated the alliance. Su Changhe proposed that the academic alliance should be a network for students and scholars and should adhere to the “4C” concept, that is, “comfort,” “cooperation,” a “community of mutual understanding,” and a “connective network.” Su believes that the alliance is an inclusive and informal organization that puts “comfort” first, meaning that no ideology or political standpoint is imposed in the academic exchanges, and that it’s a pragmatic cooperation on an equal and comfortable basis. The deans attending the conference put forward nearly 40 valuable proposals for the future of the alliance, including strengthening student and teacher communication, credit transfer, multinational dual degree programs, summer schools, scholars’ field research, remote online courses, and an exchange of scholars to give lectures on each country’s governance and politics.

Dody Prayogo, Associate Dean of the School of Social and Political Studies at the University of Indonesia, suggested the creation of a “Belt and Road” international journal. Mohammad Takhshid, from the Faculty of Law and Politics at the University of Tehran, wished that this academic network would be gradually and formally organized in the future.

Source: The Paper, October 16, 2018
https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_2531400

BBC Chinese recently reported that the West African country Sierra Leone just announced the cancellation of an airport construction project that China was to fund. The government of Sierra Leone explained that the project is “not economical.” However, the project has already begun and it is unclear if China will, at this time, ask for a fine for breaching the project contract . This is the first instance of an African country announcing the cancellation of a China One Belt One Road project. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) both warned earlier that this project may bring an unnecessary debt burden to Sierra Leone. The Chinese Ambassador to Sierra Leone told the press that the announcement won’t hurt the relationship between the two countries because China’s principle has always been to look for win-win arrangements. Only last month, China invited a large number of African leaders to China and announced a US$60 billion “aid” plan to Africa. China is currently the largest financial supplier to Africa. The current government of Sierra Leone was newly elected in March.

Source: BBC Chinese, October 12, 2018
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/world-45819693